Chapter VI

Concerning the pleasantness and fertility of Wales

As the southern part of Wales near Cardiganshire, but particularly
Pembrokeshire, is much pleasanter, on account of its plains and
sea-coast, so North Wales is better defended by nature, is more
productive of men distinguished for bodily strength, and more
fertile in the nature of its soil; for, as the mountains of Eryri
(Snowdon) could supply pasturage for all the herds of cattle in
Wales, if collected together, so could the Isle of Mona (Anglesey)
provide a requisite quantity of corn for all the inhabitants: on
which account there is an old British proverb, “MON MAM CYMBRY,"
that is, “Mona is the mother of Wales.” Merionyth, and the land of
Conan, is the rudest and least cultivated region, and the least
accessible. The natives of that part of Wales excel in the use of
long lances, as those of Monmouthshire are distinguished for their
management of the bow. It is to be observed, that the British
language is more delicate and richer in North Wales, that country
being less intermixed with foreigners. Many, however, assert that
the language of Cardiganshire, in South Wales, placed as it were in
the middle and heart of Cambria, is the most refined.

The people of Cornwall and the Armoricans speak a language similar
to that of the Britons; and from its origin and near resemblance,
it is intelligible to the Welsh in many instances, and almost in
all; and although less delicate and methodical, yet it approaches,
as I judge, more to the ancient British idiom. As in the southern
parts of England, and particularly in Devonshire, the English
language seems less agreeable, yet it bears more marks of antiquity
(the northern parts being much corrupted by the irruptions of the
Danes and Norwegians), and adheres more strictly to the original
language and ancient mode of speaking; a positive proof of which
may be deduced from all the English works of Bede, Rhabanus, and
king Alfred, being written according to this idiom.